scholarly journals Order out of Chaos: Public and Private Rules for Managing Carbon

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica F. Green
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Carbon Accounting ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Regime Complex ◽  
Private Standards

To date, much of the work on “regime complexes”—loosely connected nonhierarchical institutions—has excluded an important part of the institutional picture: the role of private authority. This paper seeks to remedy this shortcoming by examining privately created standards within the regime complex for climate change and their relationship to public authority. Public rules in the Kyoto Protocol serve as a “coral reef,” attracting private rulemakers whose governance activities come to form part of the regime complex. Using original data, I conduct a network analysis of public and private standards for carbon management. Surprisingly, I find evidence of policy convergence—both around public rules and a subset of privately created rules: there is an emerging order in the complex institutional landscape that governs climate change. The observed convergence arises from private standards' concerns about demonstrating credibility and providing benefits for users. These findings are important for scholars of institutional complexity and climate politics: public rules on carbon accounting have the potential to outlast their current incarnation in the Kyoto Protocol, as perpetuated through private authority.

scholarly journals Unbundling the Regime Complex: The Effects of Private Authority

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica F. Green ◽  
Graeme Auld
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Full Understanding ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Loosely Coupled ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Regime Complex ◽  
Hierarchical Relationships

AbstractThe work on ‘regime complexes’ – loosely coupled regimes linked through non-hierarchical relationships – provides a lens for understanding the increasing density of international rules and institutions. However, the role of private authority in the regime complex – situations where non-state actors set rules or standards that other actors adopt – has only recently received academic attention. In this article, we ‘unbundle’ the concept of the regime complex in two novel ways. Firstly, we argue that an accurate depiction of any regime complex must also include private authority. Secondly, using examples from environmental governance, we carefully elaborate four specific mechanisms through which public and private authority interact, demonstrating the ways in which private authority can improve the problem-solving capacity of regime complexes. In short, a full understanding of the contributions of private authority to solving environmental problems requires examining its interactions with public rules and institutions.

scholarly journals Principles of Kyoto and Emissions Trading Systems: A Primer for Energy Lawyers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Evans
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Trading Systems ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Legislative Authority ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Potential Impact

The Kyoto Protocol defines new emissions standards to be met by the international community in respect of greenhouse gases, the aim of which is to curb the present trend of adverse climate change. The specific responses of ratifying governments to bring about the desired changes will significantly impact citizenry and industry alike. This article addresses the issues surrounding emissions trading systems as market-based policy instruments that may ultimately contribute to Canada s legislative response to the Kyoto standards. Central to this question is the need to familiarize legal practitioners with the implications of climate change and the range of policy responses available to government in the context of emissions trading systems. The author examines responses open to the governments of Canada and Alberta through a review of the international reaction to climate change, the role of emissions trading in environmental regulation generally and the anticipated use of emissions trading to comply with the Kyoto Protocol in the future. The author presents an in-depth analysis of the principles underlying the design of domestic emissions trading systems, of the legislative authority surrounding their implementation and of the need for affected businesses to strategically plan for ensuing changes. The author concludes that while Canada has not yet adopted a policy on domestic emissions trading systems in respect of the Kyoto Protocol, the potential impact of emission standards on domestic sources is pronounced, meriting an inspection of the design features that may form a pan of such trading schemes.

scholarly journals Is It Time for a Reset in Arctic Governance?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oran R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Peripheral Region ◽  
Great Power ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Ground Zero ◽  
Regime Complex

Conditions in the Arctic today differ from those prevailing during the 1990s in ways that have far-reaching implications for the architecture of Arctic governance. What was once a peripheral region regarded as a zone of peace has turned into ground zero for climate change on a global scale and a scene of geopolitical maneuvering in which Russia is flexing its muscles as a resurgent great power, China is launching economic initiatives, and the United States is reacting defensively as an embattled but still potent hegemon. This article explores the consequences of these developments for Arctic governance and specifically for the role of the Arctic Council. The article canvasses options for adjusting the council’s membership and its substantive remit. It pays particular attention to opportunities for the council to play a role in managing the increasingly complex Arctic regime complex.

scholarly journals WTO REGULATION OF TRANSNATIONAL PRIVATE AUTHORITY IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 867-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Du
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Regulatory Mechanism ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
International Commerce ◽  
Intergovernmental Organization ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Private Standards

AbstractFollowing the proliferation of private standards in the global supply chain trade, it has become clear that these can have adverse effects on international commerce and world welfare in the same way that government-imposed mandatory regulations do. However, the scope of the obligation of WTO Members in relation to the regulation of private standards remains vague and open to divergent interpretations under WTO law. This article starts from the premise that the debate should move beyond the search for a reasonable interpretation of relevant WTO disciplines and instead begin to consider normative questions concerning the legitimacy and accountability of transnational private regulation in global governance and the potential role of the WTO in regulating such private authority. The article explores what justifies the role of the WTO, a multilateral intergovernmental organization, in regulating transnational private standards and how a regulatory mechanism might be designed and implemented in practice.

Conceptualizing Climate Governance Beyond the International Regime

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwumerije Okereke ◽  
Harriet Bulkeley ◽  
Heike Schroeder
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Critical Space ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Different Levels

The governance of climate change has traditionally been conceived as an issue of international co-operation and considered through the lens of regime analysis. Increasingly, scholars of global governance have highlighted the multiple parallel initiatives involving a range of actors at different levels of governance through which this issue is being addressed. In this paper, we argue that this phenomenon warrants a re-engagement with some of the conceptual cornerstones of international studies. We highlight the conceptual challenges posed by the increasing involvement of non-nation-state actors (NNSAs) in the governance of climate change and explore the potential for drawing from alternative theoretical traditions to address these challenges. Specifically, the paper combines insights from neo-Gramscian and governmentality perspectives as a means of providing the critical space required to generate deeper understanding of: (a) the nature of power in global governance; (b) the relationship between public and private authority; (c) the dynamics between structure and agency; and (d) the rationalities and practices of governance.

Climate Change Governance, International Relations, and Politics: A Transnational Law Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 930-952
Author(s):  
Stephen Minas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Commercial Law ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Transnational Law ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Climate Change Governance

This chapter applies a transnational law perspective to climate change governance. Climate change is increasing the interdependence of different states and economic activities, as the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions from somewhere are felt everywhere. This has prompted an international climate politics in which diverse actors grapple with growing interdependencies. The transnational nature of the climate crisis is however but partially reflected in international climate law. The chapter argues that the Paris Agreement has the potential, as a central node in a still-heterarchical climate governance, to interlink instruments and mechanisms from different levels of law and from the public and private sectors. The chapter also draws attention to interactions with often-overlooked sites of climate governance, including transnational commercial law, private international law, and contractual dispute resolution. It concludes with suggestions for further work in the domains of scholarship and practice.

7. Politics of climate change

2014 ◽  
pp. 114-135
Author(s):  
Mark Maslin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Accounting Rules ◽  
Kyoto Mechanisms

Climate change can only be solved by having binding international agreements to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. ‘Politics of climate change’ reviews the role of the UNFCC and the regular ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COPs) climate change negotiations beginning with the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 by over 190 countries. Failures at COP15 in Copenhagen (2009) due to the introduction by the US and BASIC countries of voluntary pledges set back negotiations. COP18 in Doha (2012) reinstated the Kyoto mechanisms and accounting rules, and encouraged parties to review and, if possible, increase their commitments. It is hoped that a timetable for a binding climate agreement can be finalized at COP21 in Paris in 2015.

The Contextual Framework

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-52
Author(s):  
Peter Coss
Keyword(s):  
Grand Narrative ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Contextual Framework ◽  
Italian Context ◽  
The City

Chapter 2 deals with the contextual framework for the study of Tuscany under three headings. These are: the Italian context, concentrating on the decline of the kingdom of Italy during the iron century which provides a backdrop to this study; public and private authority; patrimonialization and the localization of power; the Tuscan context, concentrating on its geography and its broad history, including the march of Tuscia; the role of bishops, and castles; and the historiography of Tuscany, introducing key scholars and the grand narrative which centred on the binary distinction between the city as the site of progress and the backward-looking feudal countryside. Key terminology will be discussed: signoria, incastellamento, libellus, pievi, contado, consorteria.

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